Canadian military investigating Afghanistan sex assault
Probe investigates claims Canadian soldiers told by superiors to ignore incidents in which Afghan boys were assaulted by allied soldiers
After five years, the Canadian military is still investigating claims that Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were told by their superiors to ignore incidents where Afghan soldiers and interpreters sexually assaulted young boys.
The probe continues, with no specified end date, a Canadian Forces spokesperson said, long after most Canadian soldiers have left Afghanistan and nearly five years after a board of inquiry was convened on Nov. 21, 2008, by Lt. Gen. Andrew Leslie.
A preliminary investigation into the claims concluded in 2010 and since then the case has been under review by the office of the Canadian army’s deputy commander, currently Maj. Gen. P.F. Wynnyk.
Eight board investigators, as well as board president Brig.-Gen. Glenn Nordick, have interviewed 87 witnesses and collected more than 30,000 pages of documents, said a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence.
Jessie Chauhan, a DND spokesperson, said the investigation has taken so long because of its “complex” nature.
Chauhan said in an email that the deputy commander’s office is now ensuring that the report “clearly and completely addresses all of the findings required by the convening order.”
“The Convening Authority may reconvene the Board as required to address deficiencies. At this time, no firm timeline is available for when this BOI (Board of Inquiry) will be final.”
Once the report is finally approved, Chief of Defence Staff Thomas Lawson could decide to keep some or all of the report secret, Chauhan said.
During the summer of 2008, the Star reported that some Canadian soldiers who had returned from Afghanistan had sought counseling to cope with feelings of guilt because they had not stopped incidents of child abuse.
The sexual-abuse allegations put Canada in a difficult position with the local Afghan government and rekindled memories of past deployments that had led to Canadian soldiers developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The Star interviewed three Canadian soldiers, three Canadian Forces chaplains, and a lieutenant colonel who all said they had either first- or second-hand information about the alleged sexual attacks in Afghanistan.
Tyrel Braaten, for instance, a Canadian army bombardier, said during a December 2008 interview that he had witnessed an Afghan interpreter taking a boy who was about 12 years old into a building on Forward Operating Base Wilson, about 30 kilometres outside Kandahar.
The boy was wearing a wig, lipstick and perfume, and was dressed in a flowing robe. The interpreter, who worked for the Canadian army, told Braaten that the boy was one of “the bitches.”